Henry was far from impressed about a weekend report that took aim at the Cowboys for not having a player bother to attend rugby league's night of nights.

While Canterbury superstar Ben Barba is a short-priced favourite to collect the top gong, two-time winner Johnathan Thurston, fullback Matt Bowen, props James Tamou and Matt Scott, equal top-tryscorer Ashley Graham, centre Brent Tate and coach Neil Henry all RSVP'd, only to say they would be remaining at home, more than 2000km in the sunny tropics.

Henry said it was logistically too hard for North Queensland to play a game in Sydney on a Sunday, hang around for Tuesday's awards, then get back to Townsville and prepare for Saturday night's sudden-death final against Brisbane.

He also took objection to the fact the Cowboys were compared to Melbourne, whose players will travel an hour from interstate to attend the black-tie affair.

"To compare us to Melbourne, when we have to travel three hours by plane," said Henry, who deliberately took it upon himself to clear the air about the issue at the end of the Cowboys' press conference.

"The scheduling by the NRL, last year they gave us the Warriors game leading into finals footy, and we did the right thing and brought the team down (to Sydney) early. We didn't get the result in that (finals) game (against Manly) and it did affect our preparation.

"We haven't had a home game in the last round for two seasons now, and the NRL knew full well it made it difficult for us to attend these awards.

"I feel for the players in this situation, they agreed individually not to disrupt our preparation so much by trying to do three flights in a short period of time, not to mention the shot tissue injuries and flying.

"I make that point that it is unfair criticism of our club.

"Johnathan would love to be there, he has won two Dally Ms, it is a slight on their character to suggest we are snubbing the event because there are extenuating circumstances as far as I'm concerned. It's not a decision we took lightly."

Thurston, who was one of the bookies' early favourites before voting went behind closed doors after round 16, said: "I would definitely like to be there."

While the Cowboys won't be in attendance, Bulldogs' No. 1 Barba is sure to be the player who receives the most accolades after a stand-out year.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey even went as far to describe Barba as a "shoo-in" for the award yesterday.

Melbourne's Cooper Cronk and South Sydney's Greg Inglis loomed as two players who had an outside chance of reeling in Barba. But the Storm crashed to a series of defeats after the Origin series, while a three-week suspension handed to Inglis for his controversial shoulder charge on Dragons Dean Young cruelled his chances.

South Sydney teammate Adam Reynolds, like Barba, is odds-on to win the Rookie of the Year honours.

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